Chicago changes criteria for admission to magnet, selective schools

Scores to determine 50% of admissions; socioeconomic criteria to factor into other half

November 11, 2009|By Azam Ahmed, Tribune reporter

In the wake of a federal order placing race off-limits as a key admissions criterion to the city's most competitive schools, the Chicago Public Schools will use a battery of socioeconomic factors to distribute the coveted spots -- a strategy officials hope will maintain racial integration while enhancing economic integration.

It is unclear what the impact of the new policy will be. The district is putting it in place for only a year, after which officials will assess the results.

Skeptics long have been cynical about moves from racial to socioeconomic integration, pointing to other districts where schools became more segregated after the lifting of a federal order to racially integrate, such as in San Francisco, Denver and Norfolk, Va. They think Chicago's plan will be no different.

"(These policies) are probably not going to produce a lot of racial diversity," said Gary Orfield, an education professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who has studied Chicago schools and the decree. "There's a lot of evidence to show that social class integration does not lead to a lot of racial integration."

But district officials are betting that their strategy, developed with outside consultants, offers the most comprehensive approach attempted yet by a major urban district. Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman said he believes the result would be a more equitable and fair process that would not sacrifice racial integration.

The district also announced Tuesday that it would put on hold the controversial practice of allowing magnet school principals to select 5 percent of their students. Principals at so-called selective schools still would be allowed the principal's discretion, but they will face more scrutiny from the central office, like being required to sign affidavits saying that no third party exercised undue influence on their decisions. Federal authorities are investigating admissions policies at the district's selective enrollment high schools.

As part of the revamping, the district overhauled admissions criteria for both the lottery-based magnet schools and selective schools that require testing.

Using 2000 census data updated by a private market research company, the district assessed all 874 census tracts in the city for five indicators: median income, adult education level, percentage of single-family homes and homeowners and the percentage of children living in homes where a non-English language is spoken.

They then ranked the census tracts based on those indicators, and divided them into four tiers. It's those four tiers that school officials will use to integrate the nearly 80 magnet and selective schools. Skeptics say any assessment of census tracts would be flawed because the underlying data is 10 years old.

For the selective schools, one-half of openings will go to students with the top scores and the other half divided evenly among the top scorers of the four socioeconomic groups. Previously, applicants were sorted into minority and non-minority categories, then admitted based on scores.

In another major change announced Tuesday, the district has adopted a computerized model to assign students to schools rather than allowing principals to make the decision.